Thursday, September 24, 2015

Northwest:
--Linn County Sheriff's Search and Rescue on Monday afternoon recovered the body of a mountain climber from Bend who fell several hundred feet and died Sunday near the summit of Three Fingered Jack in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. To read more, click here.

Liz Daley guides a climber up the North Ridge of Mt. Baker.

--On Saturday, September 26th, there will be an event in Tacoma celebrating the life of AAI Guide Liz Daley. Liz was tragically killed in an avalanche last September. This event is a fundraiser to build a climbing park called Liz Rocks at Point Defiance Park. To read more, click here.

--The U.S. Forest Service is moving 15,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from popular hiking trails near the Monte Cristo mine in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The site was a gold dig area for decades starting in the early 1890s. Miners left waste rock behind, filled with high levels of arsenic and lead. USFS received $11 million from a bankruptcy settlement to fund the project, which has drawn criticism. Some believe the landfill where the dirt is going to be stored has not been properly stabilized. It is also less than 200-feet from Glacier Creek and hiking trails. To read more, click here.

--The book Crossing Zion will have a release party/presentation on October 1st at Village Books in Bellingham. To learn more, click here.

--After being closed for a period of time, the Three Fingers Lookout is open again...

--So, a father and son team shot a bear with an arrow. The bear was angry and came after them. And now -- unless the bear died -- there's a bear running around out there somewhere with an arrow sticking out of it... To read more, click here.

--A camera was found near the Goat Flats in the Three Fingers area. The person who found it has the memory card. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--It appears that there was a fatality on Mt. Whitney last week during a rain storm. However, there is little information on it at this time. Supertopo has a thread on the incident, here.

--Ski mountaineer and guide Bela Vadasz died last Tuesday. Outside of California’s Sierra Nevada, many may not know his name, but his impact on the backcountry community stretched far across the world. To read more, click here.--A young mountain lion is fighting for his life after rescuers were lucky enough to find him among the rubble and ruins of California's rampant wildfires. The 3- to 4-month-old cub was found early last week, underweight and singed from the flames. To read more, click here.

--A federal jury on Monday convicted a Colorado man of murdering his wife by shoving her from a cliff while they hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park on their 12th wedding anniversary. Harold Henthorn, 59, had claimed that his wife fell 130 feet to her death while pausing to take a picture on Sept. 29, 2012. But after 10 hours of deliberations, the jury in Denver convicted him of first-degree murder. A life sentence is mandatory when he is formally sentenced in December. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--A climber was rescued at Hanging Rock State Park Thursday night in North Carolina. To read more, click here.

--A climber was injured in a fall at Signal Mountain in Tennessee. To read more, click here.

--The American Safe Climbing Association is making a push for funds to replace bolts throughout the US. To read more, click here.

--O Friday, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ ranking member, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), and five other Democrats formally introduced a new bill in an effort to bring more funding to national parks, according to Environment & Energy Publishing. To read more, click here.

--The National Park Service announced Monday that electronic cigarette use is now banned anywhere smoking is prohibited on its vast and far-flung landholdings. National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis publicly announced the new policy in a press release, describing it as a step to safeguard people’s health – fighting words for advocates of the devices, which vaporize liquid that's generally laced with nicotine. To read more, click here.

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Climbing, skiing and mountaineering are dangerous sports. When you undertake an outdoor, backcountry, or an alpine adventure without a guide, you assume total responsibility for your decisions and wellbeing. Conditions in the mountains are constantly changing, and no guidebook or computer web blog can take the place of solid training and experience. Though this site features descriptions of roads, trails, climbing routes, and other natural features, you cannot assume that because something is described here that it has not changed since last observed or that it will be safe for you or your party.
AAI assumes no responsibility or liability for your use of the information presented in this blog. With regard to all backcountry travel and climbing, you must make your own assessments and decisions, and you assume all risks in applying them.